'Kashmiri planned to kill CEO of US drone company'

Kashmiri planned to kill Lockheed Martin CEO: Headley

The Mumbai attack trial in a United States court resumed on Tuesday with co-accused David Headley testifying that Al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri had a plan to kill CEO of Lockheed Martin in frustration over drone attacks along the Af-Pak border.

Headley, a Pakistani-American, said this while being cross-examined by defence lawyer of Tawahhur Hussain Rana, a 26/11 co-accused and a Canadian of Pakistani origin who is standing trial after being slapped with a dozen charges in connection with the Mumbai attacks in which 166 persons were killed.

"(Ilyas) Kashmiri had plan to kill CEO of Lockheed Martin to stop any further drone attacks," Headley said, adding the dreaded Al Qaeda leader plotted the killing out of frustration over the attacks on the volatile Af-Pak border.

'Kashmiri planned to kill CEO of US drone company'

Lockheed are manufacturers of drone planes which are being used by American forces to strike targets at militant hideouts.

Headley replied in the negative when asked if he was working on a plot to kill the Lockheed Martin boss.

Headley, who has pleaded guilty in the case, testified that Kashmiri had arranged for men to carry out surveillance in the US in connection with the plot to kill the Lockheed CEO.

Image: Tribesmen gather at the site of a missile attack on the outskirts of Miranshah in Pakistan in 2008. Suspected US drones fired missiles into this Pakistani village, killing at least seven people, residents and an official said.Photographs: Haji Mujtaba/Reuters